GRAND HAVEN, Mich — As of Monday morning, you'll find static on the airwaves of WGHN-FM 92.1 due to a disagreement with the City of Grand Haven.
You can listen to the radio station on their website, app, or their sister station 94.9 Grand Haven.
The owner of the radio station Will Tieman made a special announcement on the station Friday.
"I really never thought that I would be making the statement I'm about to make because our time in Grand Haven as owners of WGHN has been just wonderful and people we have dealt with and met have been fabulous," Tieman said.
The city of Grand Haven entered into a tower lease agreement with WGHN back in 1984 and says the agreement has been revised a number of times.
Part of the agreement was that the radio station had to provide 75% of programming which WGHN says it has been doing. Tieman says WGHN's relationship with the City of Grand Haven has deteriorated.
In a statement, City Manager Ashley Latsch says its contract with WGHN was revoked due to a variety of lease violations that were communicated to the owner without resolution.
Here are the lease violations, per the City of Grand Haven:
WGHN now has 30 days to vacate the premises while it awaits approval from the FCC to move locations but there is no timeline on how long that will take.
General Manager Mike Toth tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE the city asked WGHN to pay $18,000 or their transmitting equipment will be removed from the city's tower.
Latsch told 13 ON YOUR SIDE she wants to remain respectful of the organization and the value it has provided to the community but wants to address statements on air and on social media that are not complete in detail.
"The reality is that the City has provided significant opportunity to address the contract breaches and overall could not continue to subsidize the outstanding balances with taxpayer dollars," Latsch said.
Latsch says these are legitimate lease violations that needed to be addressed regardless of the operator, not any personal reflection of the City’s relationship with WGHN.
On Wednesday, WGHN shared a long statement:
WGHN is one of 13 ON YOUR SIDE's media partners.
**Editors Note: We have learned that WGHN will still be transmitting its show on 94.9FM. We apologize for not including it in our original story.**
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